(1) A registered society or branch may (if the rules thereof so provide) hold, purchase, or take on lease in the names of the trustees of the society or branch any land, and may sell, exchange, mortgage, lease, or build upon that land (with power to alter and pull down buildings and again rebuild), and a purchaser, assignee, mortgagee, or tenant shall not be bound to inquire as to the authority for any sale, exchange, mortgage, or lease by the trustees, and the receipt of the trustees shall be a discharge for all sums of money arising from or in connexion with the sale, exchange, mortgage, or lease.

(2) A branch of a registered society need not for the purposes of this section be separately registered.

(3) Nothing in this section shall authorise a benevolent society to hold land exceeding one acre in extent.